TAGES

A mysteious Etruscan being, who is described as a boy with the wisdom of an old man. Once when an Etruscan ploughman, of the name of Tarchon, was drawing a deep furrow in the neighbourhood of Tarquinii, there suddenly rose out of the ground Tages, the son of a geniusJovialis, and grandson of Jupiter. When Tages addressed Tarchon, the latter shrieked with fear, whereupon other Etruscans hastened to him, and in a short time all the people of Etruria were assembled around him. Tages now instructed them in the art of the haruspices, and died immediately after. The Etruscans, who had listened attentively to his instructions, afterwards wrote down all lie had said, and thus arose the books of Tages, which, according to some. were twelve in number. (Cic. de Div. ii. 23; Ov. Met. xv. 588; Festus, s. v. Tages ; Isidor. Orig. viii. 9; Serv. ad Aen. vi. 808.)